CALCUTTA, 18 August 2004 — Top Indian cricketers will get five million rupees (US$108,695) each annually under the first-ever contract system announced by the national board.
Indian cricket board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said the contract system had been finalized and were to be signed by the players either yesterday or after their return from England.
“Had the confirmation from players come two days earlier, the contracts could have been signed by now,” he told reporters here.
“Let’s us see if it could be done on Tuesday. Otherwise, it would be done when the team returns from England.”
India were scheduled to leave for the Netherlands yesterday for a triangular one-day series, also featuring World Cup champions Australia and Pakistan.
They will then tour England for three one-dayers and the ICC Champions Trophy.
Under the contract system finalized after nearly four years of negotiations, the cricketers will be placed in three grades.
Grade-A players will annually get five million rupees (US$108,695), Grade B 3.5 million rupees (US$76,086) and Grade C two million rupees ($43,478).
The cricketers will continue to get match fees apart from their annual salaries.
Dalmiya said non-playing members of the squad would get 50 percent of the match-fee as the board had not accepted the players’ proposal to make it 70 percent.
He said the players would be selected for the three categories by the board president, secretary Karunakaran Nair, selection committee chairman Syed Kirmani and coach John Wright.
Skipper SAurav Ganguly would also be consulted, he said.
Dalmiya also announced that the famed spin quartet of 1960s and 70s — Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghvan — had been chosen for the annual C. K. Nayudu Award, named after India’s first Test captain.
Each spinner will get around $4,300.
Left-arm spinner Bedi took 266 Test wickets, followed by leg-spinner Chandrasekhar (242), and off-spinners Prasanna (189) and Venkataraghavan (156).
